WINSTED — The Winchester Board of Education voted unanimously this week to appoint Kristin Peterson to fill a vacancy through November 2019.

Peterson is a member of the Board of Recreation and is the co-president of the Winchester School Parent Teacher Organization Inc. She could not be reached for comment.

Her appointment came after the resignation of Republican Jamie Duffy earlier this month. Duffy was elected in November 2017.

The Town Charter requires that any vacant seat on a town board must be filled by appointment rather than through an election. The charter also notes that new members must be chosen within 30 days of the vacancy.

The other candidate for the vacant seat was Dale Denning, who serves on the Charter Revision Committee and the Hinsdale School Renovation Committee.

The two prospective members were interviewed during the public portion of the special Board of Education meeting, which was called for the purpose of choosing a new member.

The board then went into executive session (or a closed-door meeting) for about 30 minutes to discuss the appointee.

Both candidates has applied previously for appointment to the board in November 2017, but Dr. Richard Dutton was chosen for the vacant seat.

The Winchester school district includes the Batcheller Early Education Center on Pratt Street and Pearson School on Wetmore Avenue, its website says. A Hamden architecture firm was recently chosen to begin Phase 1 of the renovation project at the former Mary P. Hinsdale Elementary School.

Funding for the Hinsdale renovation work, expected to be about $4.2 million, must be approved by voters at a special referendum, which likely would be held in late winter, Winchester Superintendent of Schools Melony M. Brady-Shanley has said. State grants could pay for about $1.3 million of the cost, according to initial estimates.